Scott County Emergency Management Captain Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

LEXINGTON, KY—A Scott County Emergency Management Captain pleaded guilty today to possessing images of child pornography.

Eric Dwayne Westerfield, 35, waived his right to be indicted by a federal grand jury and pleaded guilty to the charges brought by United States Attorney James Zerhusen.

According to a plea agreement, authorities seized Westerfield’s computer and DVD’s from his residence in February and found 11 combined images that depicted children as young as 10 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The investigation started in September of 2008, when a KSP detective had performed a forensic exam on the computer of 28-year-old Walter Hardin of Magoffin County. The detective discovered sexually explicit chats about minor females on Yahoo between Hardin and another individual. A further investigation revealed that Hardin’s chats were with Westerfield.

Hardin pleaded guilty to coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct and receiving child pornography in March of this year.

James Zerhusen, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; William Reeves, Chief of Georgetown Police; Rodney Brewer, Kentucky State Police Commissioner; and Timothy Cox , Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation jointly made the announcement today.

The investigation was conducted by Georgetown Police, FBI and Kentucky State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Erin May represented the United States in this
case.